Lady Cougars cruise in rout, advance in district playoffs

WARDEN — Beginning the post season as the number two seed out of the South Central Athletic Conference (SCAC) East, the Warden Lady Cougars softball team began district tournament play expecting a tough go.

Well the tournament still holds some suspense over the next few days but in Thursday’s tournament opener, the Lady Cougars’ matchup against Naches Valley held less mystery than a flip of a two-sided coin.

Behind a blistering offensive attack, the Lady Cougars (15-6) ended any hope for their visitors as they blistered Naches Valley (10-11) 20-0 in a five-inning rout.

“I thought that they were going to give us a run, but their offense struggled and ours heated up,” Warden coach Wes Richins said. “Their all-league pitcher has won some big games this year but we hit her pretty hard.”

That may be an understatement as Warden pounded out 18 hits and put the game away with an eight-run fourth inning as thunderstorms debated on whether to delay proceedings or not.

But the rain held off and the only storm came from the Warden bats.

 “We wanted to make sure it went no more than five innings because of possible weather delays,” Richins said. “It was  great day at the plate, hopefully we can hit this well this weekend.  We have been working real hard and we want to prove something.”

Senior pitcher Randi Wright closed the door early and often on the Naches Valley offense, allowing only four hits and striking out seven as she found a way to not let three Warden errors hurt them at any point of the contest.

 “Randi is our only senior and has been our rock,” Richins said. “She is tough and I think no one in the league wants to see her right now.  She is pitching and hitting like she should right now.  I wouldn’t take any other pitcher in the league into these games.  Randi is a warrior.”

Wright also came up big at the plate going 3-for-4 with two doubles and two RBI.

Tawnie Gonsalez led the offense by finishing 4-for-4 with four RBI and Elizabeth Pruneda went 2-for-3 with a homerun, a double, and four RBI.

Other top hitting performances came from Cassondra Platas (2-for-3, two RBI), Iris Rodriguez (3-for-4, two doubles, three RBI), and Stacee Villarreal (2-for-2).

“If the pitcher today was really bad, yes today’s game would be bad (for preparing for their next game) but we just hit the heck out of her today,” Richins said. “We only had one walk, one hit batter.”

Now the Lady Cougars will battle Cle Elum (18-3), on their home field, in the semifinals tomorrow with an 11 a.m. first pitch.

The teams split their four games this season and Cle Elum is led by undefeated pitcher Haley Bator.

“She beat us twice, but they have been good close games,” Richins said. “Hopefully we can take this momentum into the game. Confidence is up, but we know what Haley can do. We are just glad we get another shot at her.  She beat us 6-4 and 3-0, but I feel we are a better team today than a month ago.”

Connell (17-3) and River View (16-5) meet in the other semifinal. Four teams will earn bids out of the double elimination tournament and into the Class 1A state tournament field. The state finals take place next weekend in Pasco.